COMMUNING with cockroaches, creating three-dimensional heart stents and setting tasks for Lego robots are among activities planned for Galway’s Science and Technology Festival which runs for the next seven days.
Even as national science week drew to a close at the weekend, Galway marked the midway point for its 12th annual festival fortnight – the highlight of which is a one-day exhibition next weekend in Salthill.
The celebration of science and engineering is co-ordinated by the Galway Education Centre, and a key element of the programme is the final of the Irish Robotics Championships.
Some 120,000 students worldwide compete in the international event, which involves writing software to guide robots through a series of tasks. The Irish winner for the last two years, St Gerald’s College in Castlebar, Co Mayo, has taken two category prizes at world level.
Making mathematics fun and participating in physics rocket workshops are among activities planned for schools throughout the county this week.
Climate change is a dominant theme of the programme, with a series workshops on eco-friendly cleaning in school and at home, and on how pollution affects fish.
Former RTÉ and BBC broadcaster Leo Enright will give a workshop on space exploration. Other events will be hosted by Guinness record holder for juggling James Soper and European Space Agency scientist Robert Hill.
Climate change, plankton and pollution is the subject of a free lecture on Wednesday next at the Marine Institute, Oranmore, Co Galway by Prof Peter Burkhill of the Sir Alistair Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science.
Prof Burkhill heads an 80-year old project called the continuous plankton recorder survey, which offers insights into ocean change. He will speak about the development of a new survey of plankton in Irish waters which can contribute to the climate change knowledge base.
The Marine Institute is appealing to schools to participate in a national essay competition, based on the fleet project developed by the Irish Maritime Development Office.
The festival programme is available on www.galwayscience.ie or by phoning (091)745600.